Never There
by Gigi Galaxie
Summary: Heroes The cure has become a nightmare. Heroes now face the walking undead. But with the power of time travel, no past, present, or future is ever set.


(Disclaimer: "Heroes" is not owned by me and I mean no infringement to NBC. No money is being made from this. I just think zombies make everything better.)

**Never there**

They were eating her alive. Claire Bennett did not feel the pain they inflicted on her. She did not feel them peel the skin from her body in small shreds or when they started eating her calf muscles. She felt none of it but her scream still pierced through the zombie moans as they fed on her.

Today was her 21st birthday. Growing up she thought that she would spend this birthday at a nightclub with friends, getting drunk and dancing. Like any normal 21 year-old would do. But that was before the world took a very dark turn. Now she found herself held down by zombies as they consumed her flesh.

She struggled, trying to pull herself from their grip. Her voice cut out as a woman zombie bit into her throat. The world was going dark. The world was… turning frosty…

Claire felt tears in her eyes. Her harsh breath came out in icy plumes. She tried to yell but only blood gurgled out. The zombies around her instantly froze like nightmare statues. "Claire!"

Claire let loose her tears as she felt her body slowly regenerating. Her eyes stared at the boy zombie who still had a piece of her foot in his mouth. If she had a stomach to vomit with, she would have done so right then.

"Oh, thank God!" Tracy Strauss cried out. Claire watched as Tracy knocked each frozen zombie over. Frozen bits of the undead shattered on the sidewalk. Tracy knelt beside her and took Claire's half-eaten face in her delicate hands. "Look at me, Claire."

Claire locked eyes with her. She saw the utter horror in Tracy's expression. Tracy had seen her pretty bad before but this had to be the worst. Claire did not want to panic. She did not want to look down to see how much of her body was gone.

She had been eaten alive by zombies. Unable to die. She felt the panic crashing over her.

"No, Claire, no," Tracy said through clenched teeth. "Look at me. Concentrate on me. Just me. Breathe."

Behind them, the terrible moans of approaching zombies grew louder. "Where's Nathan?" Claire whispered. The tendons in her neck knitted back together. Her vocal cords once more whole.

"Coming," Tracy said as she stood. "He's coming."

Tracy turned as a zombie came out from behind the building. She flashed her hands out and froze the zombie instantly. Other packs of the undead were slowly shambling towards her. She quickly glanced back at Claire. "Do you have the disc?"

"Yes," she said as her eyes caught glimpse of something quickly darting through the sky above. She smiled with lips that were turning a normal pink again. "I found it. I have it."

* * *

Claire awoke to find herself looking up into a pair of very brown, very concerned eyes. Nathan Petrelli sat beside her. Claire rose from the small, make-shift bed. She glanced down at herself. Even though she had her powers for years, it still amazed her that her skin was once again smooth and flawless. No evidence of zombie bites. Never any infection. She looked back up at her father.

"Was the disc enough?" she asked. Nathan did not say anything for a moment. He just watched her.

"It was a not the backup files we were hoping for," he said. "Mohinder Suresh must have destroyed them when the madness overtook him. Some of the early research is there though." He gave her a smile that was supposed to comfort her. A smile to convince but the darkness in his eyes told no lies.

"Damn it," Claire breathed. She balled up her fists. "There was nothing else there. It was all gone. I searched everywhere…."

Nathan reached out and held her shoulders. "You found all there was. I believe you. We just need to look somewhere else."

Claire shook him off. She stood up, bare feet on the cement floor. She seethed with anger. "This is my fault. And don't say that it isn't! I know it. You know it. I trusted him and I shouldn't. Now the world is the walking dead!"

"Claire…" Nathan's tone was old and weary. Claire took a deep breath and sighed. They had this argument many times before. No matter what he said, what anyone said, she held the responsibility of the world's demise. Suresh had hoped to use Claire to find the cure to the surging population with unique and dangerous powers. Regeneration using resequenced DNA. But of course, it all went wrong.

Once the cure went airborne, it mutated into a terrible plague. The whole world was subjected to death and Claire's mutant regeneration.

It had all gone so wrong. Claire's heart clenched so tightly in her chest that she could not breathe. All those people. She stared down at her smooth and perfect hands. Her gift to the world.

Some gift.

Nathan stood up beside her and brought her into his arms. She held still. No, she was not going to cry again. Too many times she had fallen into that emotional abyss.

"We will find a way, Claire. Don't lose hope yet. Not yet." He bowed and kissed the top of her head. "I need for you to be strong."

Strong. She sighed, her head still buried against his chest. She did not look up. If she did, she would see the terrible lines on his face. The scars of the near-misses with the undead.

"I love you, Claire. You know that. I need you."

* * *

Peter Petrelli sat with his eyes glazed from the sedatives. For anyone else, it would have been a deadly overdose but for him, it was just enough to keep him centered. Barely conscious and aware.

Tracy Strauss knocked quietly on his door before letting herself in. The door was always locked. Just in case. It was not so much of an issue anymore, now that the proper dosage of medication was found, but before it had necessary for all of their safety. Even Peter's.

Nathan had insisted.

"Peter?" Tracy said gently. The broken man in front of her only blinked and turned slightly to her voice.

"Find…it?" Peter asked. His voice was like a whisper of dead leaves.

"No," Tracy said. "Only his early research. No other backups."

Peter closed his eyes and turned away. His forehead rested on the cold concrete wall. Tracy's eyes flicked over to the IV stand. The medication dispensed another small dose. She reached over and ran a hand gently over his hair.

"Where…now?" he whispered.

"I need you to help me. We don't know where else to look.."

Peter kept his eyes closed. He remained still, not noticing her sympathetic touch. She had learned early on that he responded better, remained calm, when she was laid a warm hand on his shoulder or held his hand in her own. It was nothing romantic. Just the connection of another human in this nightmare.

"I….don't…" he started. "I…don't….know."

"It's okay, Peter. If you can try to remember anything…"

"It's not okay!" Peter suddenly spat out violently. He jerked from under her hand and his eyes were now wide and red. "It's not okay!"

He grabbed on to her arm and pulled her down to him. "Don't say that."

Tracy remained calm and simply let his grip grow icy. He let go of her. "We are running out of time, Peter," she said. "They are overwhelming us. We can't just keep running forever."

Peter settled back into his corner. He would not look at her. "Leave me alone."

Tracy sighed. He closed up on her. She was not going to get any cooperation from him now. And there was no one else he would talk to. He refused to see Nathan and Claire. It hurt him too much to have them see him in this condition. He had grown too violent when they had tried.

She stayed for a few more minutes, hoping he would snap out of it. But when it looked like he had drifted off to unconsciousness, she left.

* * *

Peter immediately opened his eyes once the door clicked shut. "No. No no no," he grunted as he struggled to stand. His legs gave out underneath him. He spilled to the floor, taking his IV stand down too. With clenched teeth, he pulled at the IV in his arm and yanked it out.

He did not have much time. Once the medication wore off, he would go back to the unstable insanity that tore him apart, mentally and physically. Then he would be truly useless.

Peter crawled to the door and laid his hand on it. He waited like that for a long time before the metal handle began to melt.

* * *

A hand came up behind her and Claire tried to scream. But the hand covering her mouth was warm, alive.

"What are you doing?" Peter hissed at her. Claire's eyes grew wide.

"Peter! What…? How…?" She darted a glance around. She was not in the bunker. Beneath her feet was a shallow grave. There was no marker. Only she knew about the grave.

"Followed you. You…shouldn't be out here."

"No," she said. "_You_ shouldn't be out here. How did you get out? Why?"

Peter grabbed her awkwardly by the shoulders. His strength still waxed and waned. He shook her. "There is no more hope. There is no cure. Only me. Only me."

Claire drew back at his fury. "Nathan said we should look…"

"NO! Nowhere else. There is nothing. It's all up to me now."

"Peter, we have to get you back."

"Don't you want your father back?" Peter gestured to the shallow grave. "Don't you want a world where you never had to kill Noah Bennett?"

Claire gasped. It was like a sucker punch to the gut. "What do you know about it?" she said angrily. "You tried to save the world and you failed. Don't do this to me again, Peter. Don't you dare."

"I can do it this time," he whispered. His eyes were blazing. Claire saw the madness.

"No, you can't."

"I am not asking permission. I just wanted to say goodbye."

Claire's face softened as she looked at her half-brother. "Does Nathan know?"

Peter bowed his head. "No. You tell him."

Tell him what? She thought. That soon all of this will not exist. For better or for worse?

She squeezed her eyes shut. Far off in the distance, she heard the guttural moan of a solitary zombie. More were out there, she knew. Everywhere on this earth.

Peter put a hand to her face and she opened her eyes. "You won't have to blame yourself ever again," he said.

"I…" She couldn't even finish. Claire threw her arms around him in a tight hug. She kissed his cheek. "I can't stop you, can I?"

"No."

"Be careful."

"Goodbye, Claire. I love you." It was all he could whisper back.

"I love…" she started to say but he was already gone. Disappeared. Somewhere in the tangle of time.

Claire lowered her arms. The sudden feeling of being alone crushed her. The silence overwhelming. She looked down at the grave below her. Even though she loved her father, Nathan Petrelli, she still would give anything to have her dad back. Alive. With smiles and hugs and not with the horrible slack of rotting flesh as he had at the very end.

She heard the moan of a zombie again. This time it was closer.

* * *

Nathan Petrelli stood on the roof of their bunker. Tracy was beside him and he put his arm around her waist. Claire had returned earlier with her eyes swollen with tears. Tracy had told him earlier about Peter's escape. Claire had filled them on the rest of the details.

The sun was setting in the distance. A fiery display of reds and orange. Tracy's blonde hair blew in the late summer breeze. She leaned into him.

How much longer they had, Nathan did not know. It would not be like dying. They were simply going to stop existing.

He bent over and kissed Tracy on her temple. God, he loved this woman so much. And that too was going to disappear. Because of this world they had forged this unbreakable bond. All that would be gone like it never happened.

It hurt his heart to think about it. Whatever Peter changed, it could mean that he never loved Tracy. Or found Claire. The only things in this world that he held so dear. The only things that felt _real_ to him.

Tracy held still against him. She said nothing but stared with him out at the horizon. Beyond the walking dead. Beyond the rubble of a fallen world.

Even though he felt her body warm and solid against his, he could not fight the horror that he was never there anyway.

**End**


End file.
